Sunday, April 24, 2011

Happy Easter to all! I hope your day was filled with faith, fun, and family. Ours sure was.

We started the day with early Mass, then came home to find eggs with Brennan. He had a blast and then moved on to tearing through his Easter basket. Then brunch, followed by cookie decorating. Then it was off to a glorious nap :)

Woke up, started dinner, ate a classic Stewart family Easter dinner, and now more relaxing.

This has been the first holiday that Brennan has really been able to have fun and participate in activities. He LOVED hunting for eggs. It's so much fun to watch him grow. I can't wait for all of the holidays yet to come.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

During a trip back to Michigan last weekend I had the opportunity to snuggle on my dear friend's 5 week old little girl. Miss M was born at 9lb 4oz, so she's not exactly a tiny baby, but let's face it, they all seem tiny when they're only a few weeks old.

As I sat there and held her, memories of Brennan at that age came flying back to me. It seems like just yesterday he was this tiny little person who didn't move much and was completely dependent on me. And now, he's moving into the little boy stage (OK, maybe he has moved. Just let me be in denial a little while longer, K?).

I took him in for his 18 month well-check yesterday. His stats: 34.5 inches tall (95th percentile) and 24lbs 5oz (25th percentile). This was not at all surprising to me as it's been increasingly difficult to find pants to fit him. 18mo fit him in the waist, but are high-waters. 24mo are long enough, but fall right off of him. And those "adjustable waist" pants? Yeah, they don't so much work either. Thank goodness we live in a place where he can wear shorts 99% of the time.

Clothing problems aside, I asked the ped if he was at all concerned with Brennan's weight. Since birth, he has consistently been in the 90-95th percentile for height. But for weight he started out around 50th percentile and has been steadily declining. We talked about nutrition and I said that he's becoming increasingly picky and will only eat fruit and dairy now, with the occasional piece of chicken and that some days I can barely get him to eat anything. The ped assured me that it's normal for toddlers to eat a lot one day and very little the next, and to become more picky than normal. However, he was a little concerned that he seems to be falling off the growth chart for weight. So, I'll be taking a few of his suggestions and doing my best to "fatten" Brennan up a bit and we'll head back for a weight check in 3 months. If he hasn't improved at that point, we might be headed for nutritional supplements or something like that. I never thought I'd have an UNDERWEIGHT kid! Still, he's almost 3 feet tall. Holy moly, he's growing quite literally like a weed ... very tall and very skinny.

I look at him running and climbing and listen to him babbling away in "real" words and I'm just amazed that a very short 18 months ago he was as tiny as Miss M. He was splashing and swimming like a fish in the tub last night and I commented to Brian that while it's so much fun to watch him grow, it's sad that he's not such a baby anymore. Then of course I was snapped back into reality when Brian reminded me that there currently plenty more "baby" where he came from. In fact, possibly more "baby" than we'll know what to do with!

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Today I was added to a new facebook group. It's called "Class of '01 - 10 year reunion". Ack. Has it REALLY been 10 years since high school? Am I REALLY that old?? It's complete insanity.

I have very mixed feelings about going to this shin-dig. I really didn't love high school. I mean, I had great friends, played tennis, was SUPER-involved in pretty much every group and club you possibly join, and it was all-in-all fun. I got along with pretty much anyone and didn't really hate anyone (OK, maybe a person or two). But I wasn't one of those people that peaked in high school. And I'm glad. Not bashing those that did, just saying that I'm not one of them. And I don't really have much to say to those that did. Maybe they've grown up and aren't as snotty and judgmental as they were in high school. I would hope so anyways.

Of course I keep in touch with my closest friends from those days, but there really are a few people I would enjoy seeing that I haven't seen in a long time. So I think I would consider going. However, the fact that I'm pretty much homebound once July hits complicates this issue. Someone recently threw out the idea of having the reunion around Christmas time to increase the chances of the out-of-towners being able to come. That would really be the only way I could go. But we've decided not to make the decision about going home for Christmas til late October, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Now I'm just waiting to see when Brian's will be and if there's any chance we'd go to that too.....

So my hubby turned the big 2-8 last week and I was too busy to write about it. But at least I tried to make it a special day for him!

Brennan and I picked him and two of his friends up from work and went to Ruby's for a birthday lunch. Yummy... Then after we dropped him off we headed to Home Depot to get his present from my parents. When my mom asked me what to get for him this year, I knew exactly what he'd want - a grill. Ours couldn't fit it on the truck and was in rough shape anyways, so it didn't make it to FL with us. And since we've moved, I've heard Brian say a million times that "today would be the perfect day to grill!"

I was also excited to have something to wrap for him. He has wanted to go see his "bff" who lives in Cali for a few years now, but it's just hard to find the time/money to get out there. I told him that if he wanted, a plane ticket would be his bday present from me. He's been working so hard at his new job and I'm so proud of him. He really deserves it. So he booked the flight and is PUMPED to go.

Anywho, after getting the grill, the kiddo and I ran to the grocery store to grab some stuff for dinner (since Daddy refused to put in his dinner request til lunch that day!). Once he was laying down for his nap at home, I began my birthday marathon. Wrapped up the grill, signed the cards, decorated a bit, made and decorated the banana cupcakes, and started dinner.

Once Bri got home from work, we had a very low-key evening. Dinner, candles, cupcakes, and gift-opening. He was so surprised and excited about his grill. It warmed my heart to see him smile like that. While we miss our families and I'm sure Brian would want to celebrate his special day with them, we both agreed that it was kind of nice to celebrate as just our family of 3. While it's an adjustment not to have our families around, it brings the 3 of us closer. And that my friends, is priceless.

Saturday, April 2, 2011

The last few weeks have been INSANELY busy. It's the end of the semester crunch for both Brian and myself, but since his class is mainly comprised of homework problems and exams (and because he's a giant slacker when it comes to school), he isn't feeling the pressure as much as I am.

My class this semester is a "capstone course" in which we take everything we've learned thus far in the program and apply it to our project. Which means it's a HUGE, TIME CONSUMING class. And I am now in the process of editing our 250 pg paper to make it sound like one person, not eight people, wrote it. Blegh.So while I was working on this paper during every spare second available in my day, the housework has been piling up around me. This morning I decided I couldn't take it anymore and told Brian that he was not allowed to leave the house to take Brennan on a beach run until he helped me clean the kitchen/living/dining area/computer room. So we took an hour to do a quick cleaning session. Even Brennan helped.

(P.S. This is the mop for the back porch. I do not use that nasty old thing inside my house!)

So now I am feeling MUCH better about our semi-clean house and have been able to concentrate. I cannot wait til next week when I can get back on my daily cleaning schedule which enables me to stay on top of things. Don't let me fool you people, I HATE cleaning. But if I don't do it, no one will and we will be forced to exist in filth and dog hair. Brian and I might be able to handle it, but I won't subject my kid to it. So I've found that if I break up the cleaning into little bits each day, I don't let it pile up and overwhelm me. Man, I really am turning into my mother....